Lukey is 4!

On March 17, our baby turned 4. This is quite a milestone. For me, 4 has always been the separation between toddler and little kid. It is also the age where we first let our kids have a party with friends. Luke chose to have his at the gymnastics center. It was a close call between that and Pump it Up and on the day of his party he tried to change his mind (ummm, I think we should have my party at Pump it Up instead). Fortunately, he understood and was very excited.

But, let me back up a day. On Friday, March 16, they celebrated St Patrick's Day and Luke's birthday at his school. When I picked him up, he ran to me and very excitedly announced, "I turned 4 at school today!" They gave him a birthday hat that he absolutely loved. He wore it all day Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, we told him he could choose anywhere he wanted to go for lunch. We thought we had him talked into Cracker Barrel (which is what the rest of us wanted), but then he insisted on Chick-Fil-A. It was a good lesson for the older kids and we all were good sports. (We like CFA, but had gotten excited about Cracker Barrel pancakes). He wore his hat and lots of people wished him happy birthday. When we got home, the mail truck pulled in behind us and Luke ran out to tell them that he was 4 now. It was fun to see how much the birthday meant to him.

Birthday boy and his big brother. Funnily, the table sitting behind us had 4 kids as well and two of them were named Jack and Anna.

We invited 27 kids to Luke's party and 27 showed up. That has never happened to us before! I guess the gymnastics center is a hot ticket! My kids had a blast running around. It is the perfect place for a winter party!

This was Luke's favorite thing

He also walked the tall balance beam, like a pro

I missed a couple of kids on the ends, but this was the best I could get. They were squirmy!

Party table 1

Party table 2

We ran out of time at the gymnastics center and had to open presents at home. Luke got some great stuff!

On the day after his birthday, he came downstairs in a terrible mood. Thomas asked if he was coming off the birthday high and sad not to get any more presents or be the center of attention. Luke responded, "NO, NO, NO...actually, yes."

Now, all about Luke. He is very smart and sweet. At least to me. He is all about mommy right now. He tells me many times a day how much he loves me and how I am the best mommy ever. I know it won't last long, so I am making sure I enjoy it while it lasts. Although, it will be nice to have a bit of personal space, I wouldn't trade all the loving hugs and kisses. As for being smart, he knows all the letters and their sounds and can (sort of) sound out super basic words. He loves puzzles. He is a great counter, and likes us to give him simple math problems, for example, if you have three cookies and I take two of them away, how many cookies do you have left? Most of our math problems involve cookies.

He also has good fine motor skills. He wrote out all of the Valentines to his classmates (15 of them) and they were legible. He is motivated to do whatever his older siblings are doing, and gets mad if we leave him out. Last night, I was telling the older three to come clear the table before dinner. Luke asked, "what about me." I told him he had things he needed to come put away too. Then, he whined about how he was too little and he didn't want to.

This is impressive for a barely 4-year-old, right?

He is about 40" inches tall and weighs 36 pounds. Now that he has hit the magic 40" mark, I am dying to take him to Disney World. But, he still isn't super brave. I want to wait until he will ride Splash Mountain and Big Thunder, so we will see how this summer goes. We have passes to both Kings Dominion and Six Flags so there are lots of opportunities for him to try different rides.

He is a good brother and loves his siblings. He also loves Gus. I think he is still the most excited about having a puppy. He complains about going to school, but I think a lot of it is for show. I told him on my last Friday off that he could stay home with me, but that he had to come grocery shopping and take a nap. He opted for school, so I know it can't be that bad.

All in all, he is one fantastic little 4 year old!